St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-12-03

A Monster Wasp That Gets AWAY With
the Largest Species of Spider

A Monster Wasp That Gets Away With
the Largest Species of Spider.
Il have recently read in the columns
Of the Erumtner some very interesting
original stories about animal life said
gentleman to reporter, and he con-
tinued, las they are all local or California
stories, want to add to the number.
My business calls me into the country
good deal, and as | am a passionate lover
of nature, with its myriads of forms
Of animal life, | amuse and enter
tain myself by taking observations
One day while up in Calaveras county,
| was travelling through a rocky
section and was rather hard pressed
for something to entertain me. | finally
reached little glen, wheeled my
horse about and got under magnificent
shade tree. Then | dismOunted and sat
down to take a rest. Scarcely had |
touched the grass when was entertained
beyond all expectation by witnessing
bloody battle between waspS and taran-
tula. | call them wasps, though in
reality they were not such, being much
larger and heavier about the body, which
was held together in two separate parts
by scarcely visible coupling. Their
waists seemed even smaller than the COM
mon wasp, and they swung themselves
about on the coupling with lightning
dexterity The insects seemed to be very
much excited about something and acted
as if looking for prey. 1t may be that
hunger made them furious. ANYWAY,
discovered the cause of their rage. A
low tJ11a frn Iara RI,
log and apparently started for his house
with all possible speed
The wasps, as Twill call them, had been
dashing themselves in all directions about
the log, but the moment the insects saw
their victim, which had evidently been
hiding, they fell upon him furiously with
quick darts, and every dart seemed to
eject poison which made the tarantula
writhe in agony. The latter fights like
bear, resting on his launches and using
his paws and legs as weapons of defense.
The tarantula fought for his life, and
while doing so seemed to be conscious
that at all hazards he must make for his
house as the only hope of safety. The
wasps seemed by INSTINCT to understand
what was going on in the mind of the ia
rantula and redoubled their merciless at
tacks. They struck their victim so
suddenly that he seemed at times to
be bewildered. But he fought des-
perately to the last. Finally, the
fierce conflict ended; the wasps had
stung and poisoned the tarantula to
death. After the battle was over | took
a glance at the body of the latter. 1t bore
evidence of terrible struggle for life.
When 1 approached it the wasps flew
away, but they did not fly far and were
evidently watching me. When left the
wasps returned and Immediately COM
menced to tear the dead tarantula to
pieces. In an incredibly short time they
had carried off the body piece by piece,
either to feed their young or lay in q
supply of food for the winter. made
inquiries concerning the habits
of the monster wasps, and learned from
some of the old settlers that the vicious
insects were regular tarantula-killers,
and that scarcely one had ever survived
their murderous onslaughts. san fran-
CISCO Examiner.